FINA buy time on De Bruin decision

Not exactly a case of one bound and our hero was free. A long day in Lausanne yesterday yielded nothing conclusive in the Michelle de Bruin saga. After a 4 1/2 hour hearing the only decision of international swimming's doping panel was that there would be no decision. Yet. Peter Lennon, the swimmer's legal representative, was the first to emerge from the afternoon's deliberations and the only party to make a formal statement.

"The position is that the doping panel have heard various submissions that have been made on behalf of Michelle Smith de Bruin and they have heard certain evidence that has been given in relation to this particular case. The doping panel is now going to reflect on the submissions that have been made and look at the evidence that is before them and they have indicated to myself and Gunnar (Werner, FINA secretary) that when they have arrived at a decision we will be notified."

Behind Lennon and Gunnar Werner, who accompanied the solicitor from the meeting, was the room in which the nitty gritty of swimming's first tampering case had been sifted through. An indication of the thoroughness of the hearing and the willingness to engage in practical demonstration lay in the assortment of opened condoms strewn around the table. Condoms have been used in the past as catheters by athletes who secrete them inside their bodies in order to produce clean urine or a foreign substance at testing time.

The decision to defer an announcement by deliberating further took the modest media scrum which had gathered in the Lausanne Palace Hotel by surprise. Several obituaries were hurriedly scraped from screens. Gunnar Werner clarified the situation briefly.

"I am not saying that we are dissatisfied with our evidence or that we are satisfied with their evidence. I am just saying that we need more time to consider."

Harm Beyer, the German magistrate who chaired the three-man panel, was equally vague.

"It (a decision) could be in the next day, it could be a week, it could be a month. We will see."

Privately, however, sources close to the case were conceding that it was likely that an accommodation had been made whereby whatever decision is arrived at will be delayed to spare the swimmer the glare of the waiting media.

Michelle de Bruin attended the hearing personally, but left Lausanne last night soon afterwards. Her husband Eric de Bruin was not present. Sources close to the hearing indicated that it had been agreed that she would be the first to be informed of any decision.

De Bruin made no comment to the media, but her solicitor Peter Lennon expressed himself satisfied with the atmosphere of the hearing.

"The hearing was conducted in a very cordial manner, the panel gave an amount of time for me to deal with fairly extensive legal submissions in relation to the FINA rules."

No representatives from IDTM, the agency who took the sample, were present, but Professor Jordi Segura, from the laboratory in Barcelona which analysed the sample, was there "for technical clarification".

The indications early in the day had been that the Doping Commission was unlikely to test positive for clemency. In the morning, four Chinese swimmers were banned from all competition for two years for drug use, providing their lawyer with the opportunity to scream "Frame up".

Zhang Yi, Wang Wei, Wang Luna and Cai Huijue all tested positive for triamterene (a steroid masking agent) at the World Championships in Perth, Australia, in January. It was during those World Championships that testers called to the de Bruin residence in Kilkenny.

The doping panel continues its deliberations this morning in Lausanne. It will examine the case of British swimmer Mike Fibbins and afterwards there will further analysis of the Michelle de Bruin case.

"Very complicated," said Gunnar Werner with a sigh.